168 ZAMBEZIAN FLORA 



Of palms there are five varieties, and these in- 

 clude the beautiful and valuable coconut, to which 

 I have made somewhat lengthy allusion in a 

 previous chapter. This splendid growth often rises 

 to a height of 80 or 90 feet from the ground, and 

 at all stages of its long and useful career presents 

 an appearance at once striking and ornamental. 

 Then comes the Borassus flabelUfer, of which, 

 on the lower courses of the Zambezi, immense 

 numbers may be seen. This palm also grows to a 

 great height — 60 or 70 feet perhaps — and its huge, 

 green, fan-like fronds may often be seen covered 

 with the depending, stocking-like nests of a bright 

 chrome-yellow weaver which, at the elevation thus 

 chosen, has no cares or anxieties regarding the 

 safety of its growing family. The Borassus is dis- 

 tinguished from, I believe, all other palms by a 

 curious globular swelling which occurs almost in 

 the middle of the trunk or stem, a singular charac- 

 teristic which, T have noticed, is much more pro- 

 nounced in some localities than in others. The 

 Hyphoene is extremely like the last-named palm, 

 but I do not think it grows to quite so great a 

 height ; moreover, the fruit, much loved by elephants 

 for its spicy, pungent outer rind, is smaller than 

 that of the Borassus, and occurs in large bunches 

 containing a dozen nuts or more, each enclosing a 

 hard white kernel faintly resembling some imita- 

 tion of ivory. All along the coast line, and far 

 into the interior, the smaller palm Phoenix reclinata 

 grows at all points, and is much esteemed alike for 

 its fibrous fronds, which provide the native with 

 cordage for all purposes, and for the singular excel- 



